A series of commentaries by Mary T. Hoffman about: humans and animals and the cruelty inflicted upon them;
prayer and grace, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives; and the problems that plague our lives in this
corrupted world.

Civilized Decadence?
By Mary T. Hoffman

Frank and I have been rearranging the books and magazines in our library
and "stacks." It is tempting to sit and peruse some long-forgotten
magazine. One such publication, a February 1978 Gourmet caught my attention.
I remember having picked up a couple of Gourmet magazines from a "freebie"
pile kept at the public library in a nearby town. I doubt that I had ever
even opened it before, and now I, a vegan for many years, took a curious
peek inside this old magazine.

What was the first article I opened to? "Memories of Malaga" by Jay
Jacobs. And what was the illustration just above the title? An etching by
Francisco Goya of what else, but a bullfight! This cruel
"entertainment" is one of Jay Jacob's evil pleasures.

Interspersed amid history-related anecdotes are descriptions of a market:
"Goats hung in a stairwell, various stalls were festooned with sausages,
pheasant, rabbits, and cheeses." There are paragraphs describing a myriad of
sea animals offered for sale, for example: "…spiny lobsters glared
malevolently at the housewives who would do them in at dinner." It is
obvious from his choice of words ("do in") that he knows it is murder, and
yet he makes a joke of it. A vegan’s nightmare for sure!

The writer’s wife talks him into having a "civilized" lunch in
"civilized" surroundings. The author raptures over his lunch of "a splendid
fish soup garnished with slivers of hard-boiled egg" and "the piece de
resistance" of "an enormous heap – and an incredible array - of Lilliputian
sea creatures; whole sole the size of guppies; angulas (eel spawn) the size
of bean sprouts; squid no larger than almonds; inch-long whitebait; whole
anchovies no longer than matchsticks…." He ends that paragraph with, "…I’d
rather have eaten that dish than written a Scarlatti sonata, which it very
much resembled."

I couldn’t help but wonder about the effect such wholesale destruction of
the sea’s immature animals might have on the environment.

At least three times the writer refers to "creatures" that cause him to
salivate so. "After dismantling an unconscionable number of the creatures
(which were gloriously undercooked) and twice as many gambas of an almost
indecent succulence, we polished off a couple of racions apiece of
squiggling-fresh cockles…."

He comments on the "bemused gaze of the regular customers" who "didn’t
try to make a banquet of mere hors d’oeuvres," and adds, in parentheses, "In
some ways the Spaniards are still a backward people, practicing a brand of
self-denial perfected four centuries ago by the joyless Philip II."

He jokes about his wife’s "champagne hangover" and paying "five pesetas
for a tumbler of good local wine drawn straight from the cask." Note Isaiah
5:20-22:

22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, And
valiant men in mixing strong drink;

The writer ends his ode to evil on a note that leaves no doubt as to his
smarmy character: his avowed love of bull fighting, as though anyone with a
scintilla of compassion needed convincing of his deficiencies.

I found in this article, whose author’s pomposity and gluttony are
exceeded only by his and his wife’s insensitivity and cruelty, an example of
the world’s pervasive evil that lurks and mocks under a very thin veneer of
so-called "civilization." A world in which "good" is considered "evil" and
"evil," "good," as Isaiah 5:20-21 says:

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who
substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever
in their own sight!

This is the world that uses the adjective "decadent" as praise of the
highest order, when its true meaning is "marked by decay or decline." A
world that at once applauds gluttony and then derides those whose indulgence
manifests itself in corpulence. How many heed the advice in 1 John 2:15-17?

15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father,
but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but
the one who does the will of God abides forever.

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